As I promised you all I am going to write my review on Beyond Atlantis now, while it is fresh in my mind. I am not the best writer or reviewer but I do my best to give you my reaction to this beautiful game.

The game is 3d and is easy to turn 360 angles to see everything in the picture. I have a pretty high end computer but I believe that most of you will have no trouble with it. I played the entire game without one glitch or crash.

The Beginning:You are Ten a wanderer that has been chosen to save the world by taking a crystal with you to many lands and come back a successful hero that has accomplished what he was chosen to do. He is told by his mentor that only he has the power of the light and must take these journeys alone.

The First World: IrelandThis first land is so beautiful that I suggest that you take your time to look at every scene and explore every corner you can. You are a monk in this world and are required to go inside a book and find a king that has been locked away by an evil spell. You will go in and out of the book several times to complete puzzles. Your mentor in this land is also a monk and gives you hints to solve many of the puzzles. The story here is very poignant and includes a stone horse that you transport to a beautiful white stallion that carries you across water, without going below the surface he runs with you on his back to an island where you find a man that has a spell on him that makes it impossible for him to talk. he can only whistle like a bird. There are many things in this part of the game that take place on this island. During the entire game you must place your crystal against a tree until it glows red and you are transported into outer space and returned to where you were standing before you left. If you do not accomplish this in each land you will not be able to finish the game. The end of this part includes a party with the monks and a bon fire and music of celebration. Very uplifting.

The Second Part: MayaThe Mayan section of the game is also very beautiful. In it you are a warrior like character and must go to a jungle to find a cure for the king that is dying. In the jungle you will have to fight a giant spider that is the most fun puzzle in the game but you can get it with a little patience. The jungle is also a maze. You can find a map of this place if you get a walkthrough. There are many. When you return to the king with his cure you will find a tree outside his pyramid that you will use your crystal to go out into space again. There are many great puzzles in this part and it is also very beautiful.

The Third World: China

This world is the most difficult. It includes a trip to hell where you must get a page of three symbols before you are allowed to get out of hell and carry a sacred mushroom to the Chinese Priest. You will fly in a dragon to different places and will go into a dragon room that takes you to a place where there are tiny little statues with a different meaning for each one.

All in all this is one of the best games I have ever seen let alone play. It took me quite a while but I loved it more each place I traveled and the ending is very sweet, leaving you with a promise that you will play the game again many times. It is just too vast to remember or be bored on the second time around.

I hope you got a feel for the game from this review. I used to be able to write a lot better than I do now but you are all very forgiving and I love to write for you.

I give the game a solid 5 stars without any real criticism. It was just the right difficulty for me and I believe for most of you.

Hi Nancy! Thank you for your great review. This game is one of my all time favorites. I have played it at least 4 times and I always have problems with the Rainbow bridge puzzle and the Spiders in the jungle,if I try to do them without using a walkthrough.It is not very easy but it has the best maze in the history of gaming life (?). I mean Hell in China.Did I tell you that I love this gameChristina

This is one of the best games I have played so far, atmospheric, four beautifully realized worlds with perfectly fitting, mesmerizing music - which I still play separately quite often, from CD or as downloads.

It took me months and months to complete, not in one go, mind you , but in lots of sittings, because of its length and some incredibly difficult puzzles, which in fact made it all the more rewarding in the end.

And then to think that I just picked it up in a bookstore for a hefty sum, on the grounds that it looked fascinating, not knowing what on earth it was about, assuming it was a bit like Myst!

By the way, if I remember correctly, the order in which you visit the worlds is not fixed, but depends on what stone you put in the "compass" on board the Tibetan ship.

You can also download it now from GOG.com for instance - it's not on Big Fish yet, or from Anuman Interactive, by way of Amazon.

There appear to be some installing and compatibility issues, at least that's what customers are reporting.

Pierre Estève's superb soundtrack can be downloaded from Amazon, eMusic, iTunes (first instalment only, it seems, with Stéphane Picq as co-composer) or on CD (with added unique game artwork) from his own shop at Shooting Star.

I completely share the sentiment! I also remember being amazed how the game started out, I showed it to my friends, and they were saying how surprisingly lifelike it looked - back in 1999 of course. How the hairs on Ten's fur coat moved and such.

Yes, it's sad that most companies that went for compelling storytelling with mystical or historical themes are no longer there. On the other hand, those games are now available as ports or downloads, so they're getting a new lease of life and not all is lost!

Yes Rich it is a little sad that games like that are no longer made. I just finished Atlantis III, (got from GOG)a little while back, it was almost as good and the puzzles were way easier (whew!)!

The economics of adventure games are not too good now, but there are some good games today. I am playing Yoomurjak's Ring and has an excellent story which is very intriguing. It is in FMV, which is very well done. Something of a language barrier though...Finno Ugric tongues are not my forte!....giggle!

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"Nobody murdered me. Or put me in a potato. Or fed me to birds. I had a pretty good life."